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Justice. Only Justice Shall Thou Pursue

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Journalistic Malpractice From the First Word

Really? Which would that be? The Kotel/Western Wall, which is the holiest spot on the planet to Jews? The Church of the Holy Sepulchur, holy to Christians? Or the Dome of the Rock or al Aqsa Mosque holy to Muslims built atop and adjacent to the Western Wall?

Well, it turns out that the police went into the al Aqsa Mosque because Palestinian thugs were busy throwing stones from the vicinity of the mosque.

The report makes no mention that those who were rioting were Muslim, only that Palestinians were involved.

And the police never actually stormed the mosque.

They have no plans to do so - as the report actually indicates.

I am reprinted this crap in full so that there's a record of the malpractice and overt lies.

JERUSALEM – Israeli forces stormed Jerusalem's holiest shrine Sunday, firing stun grenades to disperse hundreds of stone-throwing Palestinian protesters in a fresh eruption of violence at the most volatile spot in the country.

A wall of Israeli riot police behind plexiglass shields closed in on the crowd, sending many protesters — overwhelmingly young men — running for cover into the black-domed Al-Aqsa mosque. The mosque is one part of the compound known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary.

After several rounds of clashes, dozens of protesters were still holed up inside the mosque at midafternoon, occasionally opening shuttered doors to throw objects at police. The Israeli forces did not enter the building and police said they had no plans to do so. There were no serious injuries.

Israel's national police chief, David Cohen, accused a small group of Muslim extremists of trying to foment violence — echoing a charge made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu two weeks ago.

"The police will act with a strong hand against anyone who disrupts order on the Temple Mount and against those incite to riot," Cohen said.

Religious and nationalist sentiment connected with the site have made it a flashpoint for violence in the past. A visit in 2000 by Ariel Sharon, then an Israeli opposition leader, helped ignite deadly clashes that escalated into violence that engulfed Israel and the Palestinian territories for several years.

The clashes were the most intense in the past month of unrest around the compound. Frictions in recent weeks have stemmed largely from rumors among Palestinians about Israeli plans to allows Jews to pray at the site or to dig under the compound and harm the Muslim buildings there. Israel has carried out numerous archaeological digs in nearby areas, but there has been no evidence to support the Palestinian claims.

In the West Bank, the Palestinian Authority condemned the Israeli police action.

"Jerusalem is a red line that Israel should not cross," said Nabil Abu Rdeneh, spokesman for President Mahmoud Abbas.

Muslim leaders had urged their followers to gather at the compound early Sunday in response to what they said was a planned "Jewish conquest."

Israeli police said the protesters hurled a fire bomb and poured oil on the ground to make the forces slip. Around midday, small groups of youths were seen darting in and out of nearby alleyways in Jerusalem's Old City, throwing stones and bottles at police, who responded with more stun grenades. Many protesters masked their faces with black-and-white checkered keffiyeh headdresses.

Three police officers were lightly wounded and 15 protesters were detained. The Palestinian president's adviser on Jerusalem affairs, was arrested for alleged incitement, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. At least two Palestinians were lightly wounded.

The disputing claims to the hilltop compound in Jerusalem's Old City lie at the heart of the Israel-Palestinian conflict. It is revered as the holiest site in Judaism, home to the biblical Temples.

It also is the third-holiest site in Islam, after the Saudi cities of Mecca and Medina, and believed to be the place where the Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven. At the center of the compound is the famous golden cap of the Dome of the Rock.

The site has been under Israeli control since 1967, but it is administered by a Muslim religious body known as the Waqf. The compound is opened for several hours a day to allow tourists and Jews to visit, though only Muslims are allowed to pray there.

The Palestinians seek to make east Jerusalem — including the holy compound — the capital of a future independent state, while Netanyahu says he will never share control of the holy city.

The Gaza Strip's rival rulers, the Islamic militant group Hamas, called on Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims to rise up against Israel. "The real battle begins again," spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said.

So, what do we have here if we want to count the mistakes?1) Palestinian thugs were busy engaging in riots, throwing rocks and firebombs.2) Israeli police came to the vicinity of the Temple Mount to break up the rioters and never entered the mosque or Dome of the Rock.3) Israeli police did not storm a shrine holy to Muslims. That directly contradicts the headline.4) Israeli authorities have repeatedly prevented Jews from visiting the Temple Mount, which is holy to all Jews, for fears that a Jewish presence on the Temple Mount would cause rioting by Palestinians.5) Palestinians, Islamists and Arab revisionists repeatedly try to disavow Jewish claims to historical ties to the Temple Mount, attempting to write out 3,000+ years of Jewish ties to Jerusalem in the process.6) No where in the report do we read that Palestinian leaders condemn the attacks by Palestinians on Israelis or the use of violence. Instead, we read of the Palestinian leadership support for the rioters. That's a partner in peace?

This report, full of lies and omissions is propaganda that aids and abets Palestinian terrorism and efforts to initiate another intifada.

And what precipitated this latest violence in Jerusalem? Well, it was a video showing Palestinian kids preparing for the violence:

Police said that the disturbances began when officers were accompanying a group of tourists up to the mount, and several Muslim youngsters were caught on video camera preparing to cause trouble, including gathering rocks to throw and pouring oil onto the ground to hinder the access of security forces and the visitors.

Following the discovery, police reinforcements stormed the mount and were pelted with stones and a fire bomb by the young rioters. The forces dispersed the riots using stun grenades, among other means at their disposal, and a tense calm was briefly restored to the area.

Security forces stormed the mount for the second time when Arab youths began hurling rocks just as police officers were talking to the Waqf in a bid to convince some 100 Muslim youths involved in the earlier violence to come out of the Aksa Mosque where they had holed themselves up. Police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld said that the officers had promised not to arrest them if they descended from the mount.

Forces didn't enter the mosque, but throughout the day, protesters inside occasionally opened the shuttered doors to throw various objects, such as chairs, at security forces. At one point, protesters shot water and a fire extinguisher toward the door.